Supervisors approve lease to continue horse racing at Rillito Park

With a unanimous 5-0 vote, the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved a four-year extension for horse racing at Rillito Park.

The racing facility is recognized as “the birthplace of quarter-horse racing in the United States,” and races have regularly been held at the site since the 1940s, though some dispute its historical significance.

On Tuesday, the board at least for now settled the question of whether racing would continue at the park, which also serves as the county's largest soccer facility with 11 full-size soccer fields.

The lease is with Rillito Racing Inc., which manages the sport and related business at the facility.

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Rejecting the lease likely would have meant the end of horse racing at the park. County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry had recommended that if no extension was granted, the board should vote to tear down the grandstand "to reduce the county's risk associated with its current condition."

A $1 million donation from the Bert W. Martin Foundation also was in the balance. Without an extension approval before the end of January, the offer, which would be used for a number of needed repairs to the grandstand, clubhouse and other facilities, will be rescinded.

Jaye Wells, president of the Rillito Park Foundation, of which Rillito Racing is a part, said recently that without a multiyear lease extension, getting donations from the Martin Foundation and other organizations would be extremely difficult. All improvements to the grandstand and other horse-racing infrastructure are the responsibility of the racing lessee, not the county.

Approval of the lease cements the park’s status quo through June 2021, and that status quo has not been without tension. In addition to being the site of some of the country’s earliest quarter-horse racing, Rillito, with 11 full-size soccer fields, is the county’s largest soccer facility, and scheduling conflicts have arisen between the different users. Rillito is also used by the weekly Heirloom Farmers Market and special events like the annual Tucson Celtic Festival, held in early November.